


A Room Without a View

by ShaneVansen



Category: Haven - Fandom
Genre: Drama, F/M, Friendship, Humour, UST
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-08-31
Updated: 2011-08-31
Packaged: 2017-10-23 07:29:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,166
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/247733
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShaneVansen/pseuds/ShaneVansen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Maybe taking Duke as her only backup wasn't such a good idea. (Audrey&Duke friendship fic with Audrey/Nathan undertones.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Room Without a View

**Author's Note:**

> Um, somehow a fic that's comprised almost entirely of Audrey and Duke still managed to become Audrey/Nathan. Blame the muse.
> 
> Haven's timeline is a little mysterious; even in S2, they're still referring to 1983 as twenty-seven years ago, which makes it still 2010 (the same year Audrey arrived). For the sake of this fic, pretend the show's following "real world" time and Audrey's been there for a little over a year.
> 
> Spoilers through _Audrey Parker's Day Off_. Assumes the guys don't know what happened at the very end between Audrey and Chris.
> 
> And, as always, many thanks to December21st for betaing. Any and all remaining errors are mine alone.

"Duke! Where are you?"

The man in question exits the storage room, carrying a box. "Well hello, Detective Parker. What can I do for you today?"

Audrey leans against the bar and watches as he unloads supplies. "You busy this afternoon?"

He pauses to look at her, suspicious. "Why?"

"I need your help."

**

"Remind me again why I'm here?" Duke hisses at her as he slaps aside a low-hanging branch.

Ahead of him, Audrey ducks another branch. "Because I need your language skills."

"And Haven PD doesn't have access to interpreters?"

"Not on such short notice," she tells him, sounding remarkably patient considering it's the third time he's asked this question. "Now be quiet!"

She gets awfully bossy when she's working. He glances at the late-afternoon sun. "You remember that I charge double after dark, right?" Slapping at a mosquito, he curses and follows after her.

**

"Well," he says, as the sound of a padlock clicking shut filters down from above them. "This is certainly more exciting than anything I had planned for today."

Audrey glares in his direction even though it's too dark for him to see. "Maybe if you hadn't stepped on that stick--"

"Oh, no! You're not blaming this on me. _You're_ the one who stood in plain sight trying to look through the window!"

Arguing isn't going to get them anywhere. She blows out a breath. "Just... help me try to find a way out, will you?"

**

The room in which they're trapped, an underground cellar or bunker separate from the cabin they'd been surveilling, is small enough that it doesn't take much time to discover there's no way out. The walls and floor are concrete; Audrey assumes the ceiling, too high above their heads to reach, is too. The doors are solid metal; she saw that clearly enough before she and Duke were dropped in here. At one time there might have been a ladder or a staircase leading to the surface, but if so, it's long gone. She wonders what the room's original purpose was.

It's also pitch black. Even though there's a chill in the air, Audrey counts it as a win that at least it's not freezing.

She leans against one of the walls, looking up at where she believes the doors to be. "I don't suppose you'd boost me up so I can check the ceiling."

Duke's tone is enough of an answer. "Hmm, let me think about that for a minute. Uhhh... _no_."

Frustrated, she kicks at the wall. "Then get comfortable, because it'll be a while before the cavalry arrives."

**

"I'm bored."

Audrey clenches and relaxes her fist. "And what would you like me to do about that?"

She can _hear_ the leer in his voice. "Well, if you're open to suggestions...."

She grins, knowing he's not serious. "In your dreams, Crocker."

He sighs, sounding wistful. "Frequently," he agrees, and she snorts in amusement and elbows him in his side.

They're quiet again for a bit. Audrey shifts, trying to get more comfortable, but that's an impossible feat. "How long do you think we've been stuck down here?" Yarkovski and his buddies took their cell phones before dropping them in here, and her watch isn't back-lit. Duke, who hadn't planned on leaving the restaurant until she showed up and asked for his help, isn't wearing one at all.

They're close enough that she can feel him shrug. "Beats me. How long before Nathan starts to wonder where you are?"

Useless as it is, she closes her eyes. "About that," she starts.

"I already don't like the sound of this."

"Nathan... doesn't exactly know we're here."

" _What_?"

"He was in a meeting. I left a message with Stan."

"Son of a--"

He mutters a few choice words. Audrey decides to keep her mouth shut. After several seconds, he sighs. "At least I'm with you. That means he'll come looking a lot faster than if I were by myself."

In spite of the dark, her fist finds his shoulder without any problem.

"Ow! Police brutality!"

"Why do you do that?" she demands. "You and Nathan don't dislike each other nearly as much as you pretend to. He'd help you if you were in trouble and you know it."

He's quiet for a bit, and Audrey wonders if maybe the question's too personal. "I wasn't very nice to him when we were kids," he says at last. "We were friends for a few years, but from the time he stopped feeling anything the first time right up until we graduated, I picked on him every chance I could get. Nathan has good reason to hate me."

It's about what she'd guessed. "He doesn't, you know," she says to the darkness. It feels a little like she's betraying Nathan, but she thinks that this is important. "Sometimes I think he wants to, but he doesn't."

The silence is still, heavy, before his shoulder bumps gently against hers. "Thanks."

"Sure," she says, and they lapse back into quiet.

**

"So, how are things going with Brody?"

Surprised, Audrey turns her head in his direction. "Fine, I guess." It's not really something she's comfortable discussing.

"What's Nathan think about you dating him?"

She frowns a little. "He doesn't like that Chris affects his judgement. I'm immune, though, so it's not a problem."

For some reason, this makes him laugh. When she doesn't say anything, his chuckle trails off. "You're serious, aren't you?"

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"Oh god. You're blind and he's chickenshit." Though she can't see him, she knows he's shaking his head. "That's just perfect."

"What are you talking about?"

"Audrey, I love you like the sister I never had – and probably more than the brothers I do have, come to think of it – but if you can't figure it out, I'm not telling you."

She pesters him for an answer but he starts humming to himself, loudly, and she doesn't get anything more out of him.

**

"Ow!"

"Sorry."

"Would you stop pacing?"

"I'm getting cold and I'm sick of sitting. What else do you suggest I do?"

"Well... can't you pace along the wall so you don't _step on my foot_ again?"

Grumbling, then a sigh. "Fine."

It's only a minute before, "Duke?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry for stepping on you."

"You're forgiven. This time."

"Thanks."

"But if you do it again, I'm increasing your rent."

**

"So, any exciting plans for your birthday?"

"I was thinking I'd just stay home. It'd be hard to top last year, what with being locked in a trunk and having a chameleon take over my identity and nobody noticing and all."

Though the words are lighthearted, Duke hears the edge of something darker in her voice. Bitterness? But no, that's not Audrey's style. Pain, maybe, or loneliness. "Hey," he says, nudging her knee with his. "We'd only known you a couple of months back then. We would have figured it out eventually."

"Sure," she agrees, though she doesn't sound convinced.

"Nathan knew," he points out. "And it only took him a few hours." At the time, Duke wondered about that; Nathan never did share what gave the chameleon away.

"That's only because he can feel me but he couldn't feel the chameleon. I didn't even know then, so there's no way it could have."

Duke's brain stumbles over that. "Hang on. Just... wait a second." His hand moves in a _repeat that_ gesture that he knows she can't see. "Wanna run that by me again?"

"Oh," she says. There's a short pause before she repeats, "Nathan can feel me."

Given everything that's happened in Haven, this probably shouldn't surprise him as much as it does. "And you've known this for a _year_?"

"Nathan has. I didn't realize until just after the chief died."

He shakes his head in disbelief. "You two certainly know how to keep secrets."

"It wasn't a secret!" she protests. "It just... never came up."

"Right," he says dryly. "Because somebody who hasn't felt anything in years suddenly being able to feel you isn't newsworthy at all."

She chuckles a little in acknowledgement, and Duke suddenly remembers Nathan talking about a woman he could feel and wondering if it was fate. His old friend tried to tell him; Duke just hadn't been listening. He'd try to do better in the future.

"Well," he says to Audrey, "assuming you aren't too busy saving humankind on your birthday, the proprietor of The Grey Gull would be pleased to make you whatever you want for dinner, on the house."

"Who could resist an offer like that?" He can hear her smiling. "Thanks, Duke."

"No problem. Any thoughts as to what you might like?" And he starts suggesting elaborate, ridiculous menus, just to hear her laugh.

**

"Never have I ever?"

"Without alcohol?"

"Good point. Truth or dare?"

"How old are you again?"

"I spy?"

It might be a good thing it's so dark in here, he muses as he lies on his back, fingers tapping against his chest. Because the glare she's shooting him right now is probably her scary one. "You're kidding, right?"

"I don't see you coming up with any ideas."

"Maybe that's because I--"

A faint noise catches his attention and he shushes her, sitting up to better focus. "Did you hear that?"

She doesn't bother asking what he might have heard but instead sits quietly. All he can hear now is their breathing. He's about to tell her to never mind, that he must have imagined it, when it comes again, more distinct now that they aren't talking.

"Parker!" he hears, then, "Audrey! Duke!"

"Here!" They both scramble to their feet, yelling up at the ceiling of their prison. "We're down here!"

"Help me up," Audrey says to him, and he obliges, bracing himself against the wall and bending one leg enough so that she can stand on his thigh. He holds her carefully as she steps up and reaches to pound on the metal doors.

The echo is loud and he winces, wishing he could clap his hands over his ears. It isn't long before the voice is closer. "Audrey?"

"Nathan!"

"Is Duke with you? Are you okay?"

"I'm here. We're fine," Duke calls as he helps Audrey down. "Just get us out of here!"

There's the rumble of muffled conversation before they hear Nathan again. "The doors are padlocked. I've sent Jensen back for the bolt cutter but it'll be a few minutes."

"Watch out for Yarkovski," Audrey warns. "He's the one who put us down here and he might still be around."

"Got it."

There's more distant conversation, presumably Nathan relaying the information to whomever's with him, or maybe to dispatch.

"That's pretty good timing," Duke tells her. "I was just starting to really need a bathroom." Then he yelps with faked pain when she smacks him on the arm. "You know," he informs Audrey, "I never realized until today how violent you are."

She just laughs.

It isn't much longer before they hear the rattle of metal on metal, and then the doors are swinging open, letting fresh air into the underground cellar. Though it sometimes felt as if they'd been stuck in there for days, the light suggests it's only dusk; it's only been a few hours at most.

When he looks up, it's to find Nathan looking down at them. "You know," he says, relief plain in his voice and something a little softer in his expression as he takes in Audrey, "if you wanted the afternoon off work, you could have just asked. There was no need to get yourself locked up in a hole in the ground in the middle of nowhere."

"I'll keep that in mind for next time," Audrey says as Duke gives her a boost. With him lifting and Nathan pulling, she's over the top in no time, and he hears a quick exchange of _are you okay?_ and _I'm fine, really_ before Nathan's head reappears at the opening.

"I suppose you want out too?"

"Well, I did have plans for this evening," he drawls, "but of course I wouldn't want to put you out."

Not bothering with a reply, Nathan leans down and sticks out a hand. A jump is enough for Duke to reach him, and soon enough Audrey's there too, helping to pull him up. Between the three of them, they manage to get Duke out of the cellar.

He takes a few moments to stretch and move around, enjoying the freedom of not being trapped underground. By the time he returns his attention to Audrey and Nathan, they're already swapping information about their imprisonment and the case. She's got her hand on his arm, and he's cupping her elbow, and Duke doesn't think that either of them is aware of it.

 _Blind and chickenshit_ , he thinks, feeling an odd blend of exasperation and affection for the pair who are standing separate from everyone else.

Somehow, though, he thinks they'll manage to figure it out.

Eventually.

 _\--end--_


End file.
